Authentic Indian Food Junkie

L-R: Chicken Tikka Masala, Lamb Curry (and again), and another Chicken Tikka Masala, plus two Chicken Tandoori. Naan N' Curry, O'Farrel, San Francisco, CA. Yum.

For months, my BFFs and I have been feeding ourselves Indian food. My personal favorite, Lamb Curry.

The first time I tried Indian food, I was not as impressed. But nowadays, I am madly addicted to it; I find myself eating Lamb Curry almost on a daily basis (intervention, anyone?)

I personally have a few Indian restaurants I trust. 

First, there's Naan N' Curry on O'Farrell street in San Francisco. It's open late night and feeds my Lamb Curry fix at four o'clock in the morning. 

They serve Indian-inspired Pakistani dishes. I taste a whole lot of spices in the sauce. The Lamb they serve is tenderly cooked, but never overcooked. The only thing I'm not happy about with the meal is the abundance of spices mixed in the dish like peppercorn, cardamom and cinnamon to name a few. But that's really how you know that the dish is not made with powdered spices; they cook it from scratch. And this is what I love the most about this restaurant. 

The talk of the town in San Francisco is Little Delhi, on Eddy street, still around the Tenderloin district. The ambiance in there is ok, not bad, not the best either. But you don't come in there for the ambiance. You come there for the most authentic Garlic Naan, the flavorful spices in their Chai Latte, the tender Lamb Curry, the "just the right spice" Chicken Tikka Masala, the free Papadum, the flavorful Chutney and for some odd reason, I go there for the rice. The food is definitely to-die for. I love how the big bits of spices are not sitting under the sauce - I can eat every last bit of the dish. The chicken is also cooked to perfection - not raw, and definitely not overcooked or stringy. 

I order a lot of Indian Food nowadays. At work, I log into my Eat24 app (shameless plug) and pass my iPad around work, to see who else wants to join me in my Lamb Curry adventure. It works (a few months back, we were all addicted to Cheese Sticks...and a few months further back, we didn't order anything but Sushi).

The two most prominent restaurants in San Francisco and the Peninsula is India Clay Oven (or Clay Oven - they have seven different locations and names) and Indian Oven. 

India Clay Oven, commonly known to locals as Clay Oven, serves the most tender Lamb Curry ever. The sauce is a bit oily though but that's the beauty of a Lamb Dish - savoring the cholesterol trapped on top of the spiced sauce. The yummiest I can ever think of. 

Indian Oven is almost the same but they taste more "Asian" to me. No, not the Thai-kind of Curry, it's still Indian-tasting. But it's less spicy, just like the Chinese Curry. 

I wish I had the best words to make the imagery. But writing in black and white simply doesn't justify the authentic goodness these Indian dishes have.

Next stop, I'm going to travel India and savor the real deal.